Package opener and contents extractor



March 2, 1937- s. a. cums-roman PACKAGE OPENER AND CONTENTS EXTRACTORFiled Oct. 5, 1934 /9 47 Inventor I 5. afi/"n l'fo/a/mzr fl Home yPatented Mar. 2, 1937 I v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PACKAGE OPENER ANDCONTENTS EXTRACTOR I Edwin B. Christopher, Wichita, Kans.

Application October 5, 1934, Serial No. 747,093

. 2 Claims. (Cl. 206 56) My invention relates to an improvement inillustration is shown a preferred embodiment of package and containershaving any form of conmy invention, '9 designates conventional packagetents packed in uniform regularity, and particucontaining cigarettes,which are arranged in rows larly to cigarette packages which have meansin said package, and which are completely and 5 for opening the sameandfor projecting the contightly enclosed in the same. 5 tents therefrom.The description hereafter To facilitate the opening of the package andgiven, for convenience, refers to its use in contheprojectin'g of thecigarettes therefrom, I pronection with the present conventional type ofvide a strip of flexible material such as cardcigarette packages and thecigarettes contained board, heavy paper, tinfoil or the like, whichcontherein. sists of sections III, II, l2 and I3, crimped or 10 Every.smoker has encountered the difficulty otherwise adapted to be bent attheir joining of tearing the cover from a package of cigarettes pointsI5. This strip is so inserted in one end with the fingers and the morediiflcult task of exof the package that the section I I extends alongtracting the first two or three cigarettes from the the bottom of thepackage and immediately bepackage by means of the finger tips. low thetips of the end row'of cigarettes l6, I1 15 Accordingly, my inventionhas two principal and I8 to form a lifter for the same. The secobjects;one of which is to provide means to facilitions l0 and I2 are providedwith foldable flanges tate the opening of a. package of cigarettes; andi9, and are bent at right angles to the lifter II the other of which isto provide means whereby to embrace the sides of the cigarettes l6 and 0the first cigarettes of a package are partially l8 respectively. Thesection I 2 extends upward projected at varying degrees from the packagefrom the lifter H the full depth of thepackage without the fingers ofthe person who is open- 9 to form a follower, from which extends thesecing the same, touching the cigarettes, thereby tion l3 of theflexible strip. This section I3 is avoiding the usual pounding of thepackage, the bent at right angles to they follower I2, and exdigging forand the tearing of the tips of the tends across the top of thecigarettes I6, I! and cigarettes. v a I8 and immediately beneath thecorner 20 of the A further object of my invention is to comtop of thepackage, and has itsfree end l4 disbine the opening and projecting meansinto one posed through an opening 2| cut in the corner solitarystructure and operation; whereby the 20 of said package to form afingerpiece. This opening of the package, the partial projecting ofsection l3 and its free end I, so arranged in 30 the cigarettestherefrom and the release anddisthe package, constitute the openingmeans for position of the projector can be performed by said package,the corner 20 of which having lines one continuous act. of creasings orperforations 22 to facilitate the Other objects of my invention willbeapparent operation of said opening means. 7 from the followingdescription of the present pre- To secure the projector in the packageduring 35 ferred form thereof, taken in connection with the projectionof the cigarettes, the end section the accompanying drawing, wherein: H)of the flexible strip is bent at right angles to Figure 1 is a top planview of the cigarette the lifter H to extend detachably along the sidepackage, showing 1 the invention positioned of the package for a shortdistance from the bottherein; a tom thereof, thereby forming a drag forthe pro- 40 Figure 2 is a top plan view of the cigarette jector byembracing the lower end of cigarette package, showing a corner of thecover of the Hi. It is evident from this construction that packageremoved. s when theprojector is pulled upon, the drag I0 is Figure 3 isvan end sectional view of the cigafree to slide up or down betweencigarette I 6 and rette package showing the invention in a normal thewall of the package; that when, with the cig- 45 position; arettes allin position as packed, a pull is made Figure 4 is a view at right anglesto Figure 3; on section l2, section I0 is a sufficient drag to Figure 5is a view similar to Figure 3, and cause section II to lift the end rowof cigarettes showing the first step of operation. at varying degreesfrom the bottom of the pack- Figure 6 is asectional view showing theinvene age and project them through the opening at 50 tion in operativeposition. the top of the package. As soon as cigarette l6 Figure '7 is aview at right angles to Figure 6, has thus been lifted a short distance,section l0, Figure 8 is a view of the blank from which the because ofits flexibility, will bend in from the invention is formed. bottom inresponse to the pull on the projector In the drawing, wherein for thepurpose of and will continue to lift cigarette l6 until said 55cigarette is raised high enough to release said section I0 as a drag;After cigarette It thus releases section IO, said section, followingsection H, will slip from underneath the end row of cigarettes and bothsections II and ID will follow section I2 up along the side of cigarettel8 and out of the package, entirely free from the cigarettes and withoutany of the cigarettes being entirely removed from the package. Theprojector, being section I0, I I-, I2 and H, can then be cast aside,leaving the end cigarettes partially projected in varying degrees as isshown in Figures 6 and 7 of the accompanying drawing. If only onecigarette is wanted it can then be removed and the rest can be pushedback into place leaving the package with a neat and not excessiveopening and with the cigarettes loos ened for further use. In otherwords, the opening of the package, the projecting of the cigarettes, andthe disposition of the projector can be made in one continuous act. Noone of cigarettes IS, IT and I8 need be removed from the package beforethe projector can be completely removed and freed from the cigarettesand package.

However, it is apparent that this projector need not be removed from thepackage when only one cigarette is wanted, but may be caused to lift theaforesaid cigarettes only slightly so that they are merely accessible,and after one of them is removed, the other two end cigarettes togetherwith this projector can be pushed back into place to remain subject tofurther use and operation in connection with the said remaining two endcigarettes.

Furthermore, the distance and extent to which the aforesaid cigarettescan be lifted and projected from the package can be varied by theincreasing or decreasing of the length of section i0 in'the constructionof said projector and its placement in the package; thus cigarettes 16,H and i8 can be caused, by decreasing the length of section E0 to beprojected only a short distance in the operation of this device or can,by increasing the length of section ill, cause all threeoigarettes, Hi,i! and l8'or the two cigarettes 11 and i8,-or the one cigarette E8, tobe completely projected from the package in the operation of thisdevice. i

After the package 9 is wrapped in cellophane,

it is apparent that the finger piece I4 will be held in place againstaccidentalv displacement or pulling, and the opening 2! will be closedto dustand other foreign substances. Inorder that the fingerpiece may bereadily visible, it may be 001- ored to contrast it with the outerappearance of the package; 7

The cellophane inwhich the package is wrapped may be creased orimpressed, without breaking through that cellophane and withouteffecting the airtightness thereof, in such a manner as to cause it tobreak and tear along the same lines as perforations 22 when the fingeror thumb nail of the operator is pushed through the cellophane andunderneath of end 14. Thus the package, after the opening or the openingand ejecting process of this invention, can retain its cellophanecovering except for the small opening at the end along 22.

In use, the strip is so placed in the package that the bottom and sidesthereof will rest against the strip is extended across the and the freetop member of top of the cigarettes I6, H and I8,

end disposed through the top of the package,

which top is then sealed. The package is then wrapped in cellophane.

When the package is to be opened and cigarettes projected, the fingerpiece I3 is pulled across the top of the package, by which action thecover is torn along the line of perforation 22. Then by'continuing thepull on the finger piece l3 in an upward direction, the lifter l I willcause the cigarettes I6, I! and I8 tobe projected in varying degreesfrom the package for the ready convenience and accessibility of thesmoker or opener. The projector may be removed from the package whilethe cigarettes are in the projected position, or it may be left in thepackage, accord ing to the wishes of the user.

' It is to be understood that the form of my invention herein shown anddescribed is to be below the ends of a row of cigarettes, a followerpivoted to one end of the lift and extending vertically from the samethe full depth of the package, operating means pivotally secured to thefollower, and a drag pivotally secured to the other end of the lift andextending vertically therefrom to lie detachably between the inner sidewall ofthe package and one of the cigarettes of the row of the same,whereby when a pull is exerted on the operating means, the drag slidesdownwardly betweenthe wall of the package and the cigarette to permitprojection of the roll of cigarettes and the removal of the strip fromthe package without the withdrawal of the projected cigarettes from saidpackage.

2. A device for projecting cigarettes from a package, comprising aflexible strip having top,

bottom and side members detachably enclosed by said package, said bottommember being interposed betwen the bottom wall of the package and theends of a row of cigarettes, one side member being pivotally secured toone end of the bottom member and extending vertically the full depth ofthe package between one cigarette of the rowof the same and one sidewall of the package, the other side member being pivotally secured tothe other end of the bottom member and extending vertically therefrom tolie detachably a short distance between the other side wall of thepackage and one of the cigarettes of the row of the same, eachslde'member having flanges to embrace its respective adjacent cigarette,the top member being pivotally attached to the first-mentioned sidemember and extending across the interior of the top of the package, thefree end of said top member projecting from the package to provide afinger piece for manipulating the device, whereby a continuous pullexerted on the finger piececauses in one continuous operation theopening of the package, the partial projection of the row of cigarettestherefrom and EDWIN B. CIHIRISTOPIHER.

